Reputation & Responsibility: Crisis Management Within Comms

June 14, 2021  /  Ariatu PR

Written by Ella Desewu

The reputation and responsibility webinar held by the UK Black Comms Network on June 9th 2021 was a Q&A panel session regarding crisis management within communications.

 There were three panellists across a variety of sectors within the PR industry; travel, retail and education.

 The discussion was flowing as questions were being asked, different perspectives were great to listen to. It was clear that planning and preparation is key to smoothly dealing with a crisis situation and having pre-built trust within the organisation was a revisited point within the webinar. It is vital to run through a crisis communications document with teams so that everyone knows what to do in these situations.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way a crisis is planned for. The panel discussed the idea that it had exposed weaknesses within organisations and created an immediacy of needing a risk assessment unlike before, we have found out that crises have implications other than finance, for example, license to operate and reputational impacts.

 Overall, the webinar was interesting listening to the advice given during the session. It was helpful to understand how to manage crisis situations in specific contexts which the panellist’s spoke about from experience.

 

Speakers on the webinar were:

  • Matt Brown - Director of news and external relations at TFL

  • Veronica Patton-Cemm - Associate Director of Teneo

     

  • Mammy Maguire - Head of Student Communications and Social Media at Manchester Metropolitan University

 

 

Why We Need To Find a Way to Maintain Creative Communication Channels

October 28, 2020  /  Ronke Lawal  /  Source

I was invited to be a “Guest Agency Doctor” by PRWeek in which I highlighted the importance of maintaining creative communication channels post-pandemic. I wanted to focus on how PR leaders and comms professionals can use this time to reflect on new and dynamic ways of working and thinking.

Employees must be part of the communications flow, too, during this season, especially since more and more are ready to speak openly about their experiences of working in organisations that say one thing and do another.

There is also a risk of relying too heavily on only one way of communicating. We have seen, for example, that Zoom fatigue is real – stakeholders were already getting tired of using videoconferencing. As lockdown eases, though, we need to find a way to maintain creative communication channels without feeling the need to lose lessons we’ve learnt from this era and simply rush back to boardrooms.

The What Now? Podcast: The era of the conscious consumer?

August 04, 2020  /  Ariatu PR

What Now? is a vibrant podcast series that brings together dynamic thought leaders from around the world to try to figure out the new marketing landscape in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic.⁠⁠ Every week, David Maher Roberts hosts one-on-one chats with marketers, communications professionals, product managers and entrepreneurs to explore the trends, opportunities and challenges of this new era and share their opinions, thoughts and insights. Ariatu PR Founder Ronke Lawal discussed the era of the conscious consumer and why we shouldn’t be looking for a “new normal” but a “better normal”.


Diversity in The British PR Industry - Black PR Professionals Share Their Experiences

June 15, 2020  /  Ronke Lawal

Along with other Black PR Professionals I was asked to share my thoughts and experiences as a Black PR professional in the UK. I have shared my thoughts in the past on my eponymous website but it was good to share some more thoughts in this PRWeek piece.

I think there's an assumption that I started my business because I was rejected by a big agency. In fact, I started my business because it was a dream of mine to do so – much like many of my white counterparts who start micro agencies/consultancies.

tags / Press, Media, thought leadership